`ALL THINGS CONSIDERED` REGAINS AN OLD FRIEND

Michael Matza, Knight-Ridder NewspapersCHICAGO TRIBUNE

You can go home again. At least you can if you`re Noah Adams and the home in question is ''All Things Considered,'' the National Public Radio program Adams cohosted for a decade before jumping to Minnesota Public Radio late last year.

Starting in February, Adams returns to ''All Things Considered.'' He will share the anchor chair with four alternating cohosts, a spokeswoman for National Public Radio in Washington announced last week.

In a telephone interview from Minnesota, Adams said he was pleased. He likened the new format-five hosts working two at a time-to that of TV`s

''McNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,'' which uses four hosts in a similar manner.

Adams left ''All Things Considered'' to join ''Good Evening,'' Minnesota Public Radio`s replacement for ''A Prairie Home Companion,'' the variety show that Garrison Keillor rode to national fame-and a Time magazine cover-before retiring in June, 1987. The homespun ''Companion'' had a weekly following of 4 million.

Broadcast live at 6 p.m. on Saturdays from the World Theater in St. Paul, ''Good Evening'' debuted in January but never achieved the critical acclaim of its famous forerunner. Despite Adams` infusions of personality through his well-written St. Croix Notes (named for the suburban river town in which he lived), critics said that he sounded too much like a watered-down Keillor and that the show lacked focus.

''Those comparisons always came from the media, not from audiences,''

Adams said. ''For (audiences) the questions were: `Is there something for me here or not? Am I being talked to with concern and respect?` I never felt people were saying, `Gee, that`s not Garrison Keillor.` ''

In November, Adams, 46, a Kentucky native with a soothing baritone drawl, announced he would leave the program at year`s end to write and freelance in radio and TV. His last show is New Year`s Eve. ''Good Evening'' will continue with guest hosts.

''Most of the things I was considering looked pretty good to me. I didn`t expect there would be an opening at `ATC` when I decided to leave,'' Adams said.

A partial roster announced last week includes Robert Siegel, who joined

''All Things Considered'' in 1987 after serving with National Public Radio`s London bureau, and Lynn Neary, who joined the show in 1984 after two years with ''Morning Edition.'' The search for two more hosts continues. On the days they are not in the studio the hosts will work on in-depth stories and signature pieces.

Adams said he welcomed the opportunity to report. ''I was never one to go to an economic summit conference and hang around talking to `important men,`